The Digital Fix: Film

Sympathy for the Devil in June

Fabulous Films have announced the UK DVD release of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1968 classic Sympathy for the Devil for 5th June 2006 priced at £15.99. Sympathy for The Devil was made at a time when the Rolling Stones were at the peak of their creative powers and Jean-Luc Godard, who after making some of the great French New Wave films, had taken a revolutionary political direction with his filmmaking.

Possessing Godard’s idiosyncratic style, it can be viewed as two movies in one. In the first, rock and roll superstars The Rolling Stones rehearse their latest song ‘Sympathy for The Devil’ in a London studio as they compose material for the forthcoming ‘Beggar’s Banquet’ album. In the second, a series of abstract fictional vignettes, Godard probes topics as diverse as race, pornography and the irony of interviewing celebrities, which feature a unique demonstration by Black Power revolutionaries and a TV interview with one Eve Democracy about the relationship between culture and revolution.

For many people the main attraction of Sympathy for The Devil is seeing the band (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman) take a loose outline of a song and turn it into a stirring, fully realized creation. Beginning as a ballard, the track gradually acquires a pulsating groove, which gets Jagger into a rousing vocal display of soulful emotion that Godard is lucky enough to capture on film. Down the years the film has been seen in two versions and has been distributed both as Sympathy for The Devil and One Plus One, this DVD now presents audiences with the opportunity to experience both versions.

Features include:

Original Theatrical Release (100mins)

Original Directors Cut ‘One Plus One’ (97mins)

Original Theatrical Trailer

’Voices’ Award 1968

Documentary on Jean-Luc Godard (43mins)

Extensive Original Stills Gallery

Promotional Material Archive

Original Biographies

Reversible Sleeve

Last updated: 31/05/2018 17:43:53

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